Daily Archives: January 31, 2015
3 miles of illegal long line seized by South Texas Coast Guard crews
Last night, Coast Guard Cutter Amberjack sighted multiple vessels moving at a high rate of speed southwards the maritime border. Unable to interdict the vessels, Amberjack returned to the vicinity of initial sighting, where crewmembers removed 700 yards of long line gear late last night and recovered an additional 4,400 yards this morning. The majority of the gear was found approximately 35 miles off the coast of South Texas. Read the rest here 22:17
N.C. Div. Marine Fisheries stock-assessment for southern flounder kicked back in Peer Review process
A stock-assessment report scheduled to go to the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission in mid-February that judged southern flounder as still being overfished and overharvested has been rejected by a peer-review board of three scientists who noted problems with the report and would not approve it, according to Dr. Louis Daniel, NCDMF’s executive director. Had the stock-assessment report been approved, the agency’s 2005 Southern Flounder Fisheries Management Plan would have mandated drastic action to end overfishing and overharvest, up to and including closing the fishery. Read the rest here 18:40
One Great Lakes invasive species may have found a niche
Can invasive species be good news – rather than bad – for native fish in the Great Lakes? That sounds counterintuitive, but a new study shows that the invasive round goby has become an important food source for several native species, especially smallmouth bass, but with benefits also for yellow perch and walleye. The study calls the round goby “one of the most successful aquatic invaders” in the Great Lakes. Read the rest here 18:03
CF/V Poseidon Princess sinks, four rescued off southwest Nova Scotia
The crew of the Poseidon Princess called for help in the early morning hours, saying their boat was in danger of capsizing off the coast of West Pubnico. Morgan D’Entremont says his father Martin and the other two crew members, Lee and Oscar D’Entremont, who are Martin’s brothers, were injured. “They’re a little banged up,” Morgan D’Entremont said. The three crew members were able to get in a life raft, but the fourth person, a Fisheries Department observer who was taking samples on the Poseidon Princess, was not able to climb aboard. Read the rest here 17:14
Video: Conversations that Matter – B.C. fishing industry diminishes
This week Jim McIsaac of the BC Commercial Fishing Caucus says that since the restructuring of the commercial fishing industry in the 90s communities up and down the coast have been disenfranchised from the sector that was their lifeblood. This is episode 18 of a series of weekly videos produced by Stu McNish. Watch the video here 11:47
Remembering Vinalhaven’s past
About five years ago, while in New Jersey, Richard Burton stumbled upon hundreds of images of Vinalhaven, Maine. The images show fishermen from nearly a century ago taking to the Penobscot Bay waters in search of lobster and cod. The images show the same fishermen living out their daily lives, salting fish, repairing wagons and walking the countryside. Read the rest here, and see 26 images. 10:51
Butterfish: In search of a lost market
From the late 1970s through the ’80s, the small, silver-colored butterfish was a high-flying commodity in Japan. Millions upon millions of pounds were bought and sold, and almost the entire harvest came off Rhode Island vessels. But as often happens with boom cycles, this one was followed by a bust,,, “There is no way we’re going to just flip a switch with this and be back in boom time,” said Glenn Goodwin, co-owner of SeaFreeze Ltd., a Rhode Island frozen seafood company based in North Kingstown and the Narragansett fishing village of Galilee. Read the rest here 09:53
Letter: West Coast fishermen under NOAA siege, too
Much has been revealed about the heavy-handed tactics of NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement during the era of Jane Lubchenco’s leadership. As a West Coast fisherman, I’ve always felt an uneasy sense of relief that it seemed mostly contained to the East Coast. But it’s important for the fishing industry not to forget what happened back then as history has a cruel way of repeating itself. After all the congressional hearings, special government overseers, and a multitude of unfavorable findings about NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement’s unscrupulous behavior, Read the rest here 09:12 Read about the Robinson Brothers here
